1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a foot-controlled computer mouse for use independently or in conjunction with a hand-operated computer mouse for delivering control signals to a computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
The operating systems of most state of the art computers, including the software which runs on these systems, is largely dependent on the use of a mouse for moving a pointer or cursor on the display and to activate specific areas and/or icons on the display. Systems such as WINDOWS 95 and MACINTOSH systems require the user to use a hand-operated computer mouse in order to perform numerous functions to operate the computer and to utilize software programs. Further, use of various programs to navigate on the Internet is highly dependent on the point and click operations of a computer mouse.
While the use of a hand-operated computer mouse to enter commands and perform various functions on a computer has been well accepted and is now a standard operating component, there are times when the use of a hand-operated mouse is inconvenient. For instance, when completing a form or making entries on a spreadsheet, it is necessary to move the cursor (pointer) to each area on the form and then to click on the mouse to activate that area prior to making an alpha numeric entry using the keyboard. Performing this task requires the computer operator to constantly remove his/her hand from the keyboard to grasp the mouse in order to move the cursor to the next entry area. This constant hand movement between the keyboard and mouse reduces the efficiency of the computer operator and sometimes results in confusion if the operator looses his/her place on the display. In other instances, a typist using a word processing program may find it inconvenient and burdensome to constantly remove their hands from the keyboard to operate the mouse when entering menu commands to perform various functions of the word processing software.
In view of the problems and limitations associated with the use of a hand-operated computer mouse, there is an urgent need in the art for a computer mouse which does not require use of the hands so that the computer operator can maintain his/her hands on the keyboard or other peripheral computer operating device. The present invention proposes a solution to the problems and limitations of the hand-operated computer mouse and provides a foot-controlled computer mouse which frees the computer operator's hands to operate the keyboard or other peripheral devices.